Welcome to the Parenting Roundabout podcast. I'm Terry Morrow and I'm Catherine hileco. As parents and parenting writers, we can't help but see everything through a parenting lens. But as our kids have become adults, we find ourselves more interested in getting caught up on movies and streaming than on going over the same parenting topics over and over.
So, since we're pretty sure we can find parenting wisdom anywhere, we're going to talk about what we're watching, what we thought about it, and maybe what we can learn from it, if only what not to do. Watch and listen along, and let's all make like we're doing something important for our families. Each Tuesday we bring you our thoughts on a newer entertainment property, and for this week of August twelfth, we're continuing with A Gentleman in Moscow, a limited series
on Paramount Plus. This episode was called The Fall, and it was very dramatic, extremely because.
It was and sad and scared and oh my goodness. Yes, but first before all that, they did such a smooth time transition, yes, and that was delightful. She goes out the door a little girl and the door revolves around it, she comes out of it as surly teenager.
Yes, and the actor that they have their sisters, right, are they sisters? Because they did a wonderful job of picking actors that look alike.
Well, they have the same last name, okay Gadsden, and I looked up the older one. It says that her sister with a different first name played her younger sister and something. So I think that this is yet another younger sister. Oh wow, Because all these girls must look alike because they really It works, Yeah, it works great. Yeah, so good for those Gadsdens. Have yourself a bunch of kids look alike and you can use them for multi decade movie and TV products. That's right way to go.
Yes. So we only got the little the little gadst and the little Sophia for one episode, which was last last time. And now she's a teen ever so briefly, yes, now she's a tea.
We didn't know I was saying about her. I just let you were going to school, Oh my goodness, and then you grew up.
Yes, And now Alexander is no longer uncle, he's papa.
Oh that's adorable, very sweet. Yes, And the entire hotel is her family, and Anna has sort of taken on a motherly role, and Olga is sort of the grandma, and uh, everybody's sort of participating in her upbringing, which is very sweet and seems like the sort of thing that would not be allowed. But okay, fine, just clearly, we're clearly beyond the rules here until something happens that, yes,
reinforces the fact that there's still are rules. Yes, although a great many folks are in the business of subverting.
Them figuring out how to bend them.
Yes, it does not help that the weasel is now the hotel manager. That's right, man, that guy. That guy is motivated, he's he's worked his way up from waiter to the head of the whole establishment.
Yes, so when bad for us, Sophia falls, that's the fall. So they're running around. It seems to me that Alexander is too old for this game.
But I think so, how was he supposed to old? Is he supposed to be by now?
I mean probably like fifties, I don't know.
But I could not run a ball, I could not walk up all those flights of stairs. I would be sleeping on a catch.
If you'd still be playing the count to two hundred.
Games right now.
But so they're they're running around playing and Sophia falls, like the banister breaks. You know, we've got like a lawsuit if yes, we're wearing up to his USA sell up in the right, you know.
So it's these aren't the ones that the customers generally use, yes, but workers come Yes, that was terrifying. So Sophia falls and it's you know, she falls a couple story like a long way down and she hits her head, and so Alexander just is like, forget it, I'm taking her to the hospital. I'm you know, he's obviously not supposed to be leaving the hotel.
But he will not.
Out.
He goes, not stand for just sitting back and watching somebody else take her.
I guess, right, So I can see where he would have that inclination, but handing her over to somebody else seems like that would have been a good idea. And also he's probably expecting hospitals to be like hospitals were when he was out right, and I mean I suppose they're more, maybe better because it's been a long time, but still also not good. Yeah.
I mean, he gets there and it's dark, dirty, dingy people are piled up in the halls just you know, it's it's very grim, so right, good thing, our old pal oh Sip comes along to save the day and get a good surgeon to take care of Sophia.
Yes, like that guy, yeh see potential, he's so mean at the beginning. Now their fellow Papa's you know, Papa's got to stick together, yes, right. They wind up putting together some sort of ruse that even though everybody, a large number of people saw him leave, all of those people except for the Weasel, are saying, no, no, he's right here, he's here, right, And then he gets smuggled in on a bakery trust that's right right in the
sight of the not very observant soldiers. And then he just waltzes out into the lobby like he's been there all like he was in Anna's all night and has been here all time.
Yeah, and much to the chagrin of the weasel, who's really made to be a complete fool.
I would have thought, given the army guy's request to talk to him, would have been on the next train for Siberia. How is he still there after? How does this not affect his departure, which we have been longing for low these many weeks. Okay, because we see him at the end plotting something. M well, we see his hands plotting something, but I'm pretty sure they were attached to him, right.
Yes, yeah, he's like making a dossier for Sophia, I believe at that point.
Yes, So why is that guy still around in a position where he could do that? I don't know. Osip doesn't have quite that much.
I guess he can do a lot of things. He can get the surgeon, and he can get the bread truck and everything.
But that was lovely. See you watch It's a wonderful life and it gets to your heart and you can't help it. You can be disdainful, but you're gonna want to help people. Now all the people you've helped will come. Yeah. So and so by the end, everything is, uh, everybody's together, every Sophia is playing the piano.
Yes, Marian married the chef.
So now who did that turn out to be?
I don't think it's not the chef. He was like the dormance kind of the concierge type person. Yes, yes, yes, yes, not the chef. The chef married Marina. The seamstress.
Right, were there boys back at the end there? Because it looked like her son was there.
I believe it definitely her son. I'm not sure if both of them ended up back, but we didn't.
Hear that story because we had figured they were as good as dead last week. Yeah yeah, I'm like, oh, well okay then yeah, yes, this isn't gonna be that bleak. But next week does not look promising because Sophia's voiceover says, the narrator says that that was the last time they were all together. Yeah, there's still two episodes to go, so.
Yeah, but that could also be referring to Olga leaving because she got married.
I guess, well that's true. You know the answers, I do know the answer I do not.
So yeah, I mean, once again, I'm sad that there's only two episodes left. I mean, I don't want them to add stuff that's not in the book just to make it longer. But I'm really.
Does there seem about two episodes worth of stuff left? Yeah?
Yeah, i'd say. You know, when I read this book, the first few chapters, it took a little while to get me hooked. Yeah, you know, it's just him like trying to adjust to his new situation. But you know, since it does cover so much.
Time, Yes, how does that work in the book? Do they just like from one chapter to the next its skips? Do they put like the year at the top of each chapter or section.
Yeah, the year or the number of days or some num days, Yeah, like they had done in some of the episodes.
Do you feel like it's a pretty good adaptation? Yeah? I do.
Yeah.
Good.
Yeah, so I'm I'm excited to see how how they do wrap it up, but I'll be sad when it's over. Yeah.
Well, I don't know. It makes me nervous week to week, like, and poor Anna, boy, she sure got yeah. Oh, she's doing this very noble deed to try to distract the army guy from Alexander. Yeah, and he's like, I have no idea who you are, but if you want to go upstairs and show me that, kay. And then we find out sort of in passing that the Minister of Culture is no longer that or possibly alive.
Right, and he had been her just her champion, so yikes. So at least she got us Alexander's lighter back that this that's rightful man, had stolen from his room.
Right, Oh yeah, but uh so she's apparently just going to stay at the hotel now and be uh you know, be together with Alexander.
Not in his room, are you kidding?
She's like, He's like, you you can move in here. She's like, honey, you do not know me well enough.
As long as I have enough pull for a suite, I'm taking a sweet buddy.
Yeah, you can visit me, not the other way around, my friend oil done.
I was surprised when they were searching his room they didn't find the little secret room. I thought that was coming.
But yeah, nope, nope, it's it's well hidden in the arm wire there.
Yep, it's a good thing. They close that all up every time.
Yeah, well that's why hang and open. Yes. And in terms of parenting, the episode started off with Alexander being a real like helicopter dad and like, how dare you sit next to a boy on a piano bench And Anna's like, you need to relax, sir.
See what happens is you do that sort of thing and then you feel bad and to apologize to your kids. You have a lot of fun, You run around, you do something fun and then she falls and hits her head and almost dots. Yes, just don't mess around in the first place, right, don't get her mad in the.
First place, right, and then you won't have to.
Deal with that and sending her off to school. When he can't take her to school, he has to send her with somebody else. Yeah, ah, just never never. I mean, of course she has to go to school. How do you It's like I think, now, if you went down to the school district and said, okay, my my papa is a prisoner in this hotel which is in this school district, so I guess I'll be coming here, would there not be some I mean, does he have a birth certificate for her? Does he have the paperwork when
guardianship papers? I don't know. I think these days this would not hold. Well. I guess then it's like, sure, the country's in turmoil, whatever.
Right, Well, we need to raise the next generation of communists, so please then.
That's right, that's right. We asked no questions, little comrades go on him.
Yeah. Well, and it's it was like World War Two during the years that we've skipped, right, So yeah, presumably people had other things on their minds. I guess.
Yeah, and oh, that terrible feeling when your kid is hurt or sick and you need to get help and you know, running into hospital saying you will pay attention to me now. When my son had his ruptured ulcer, he pretty much went into the er and said you will pay attention to me now until they did. But that's the most helpless feeling in the world.
Yeah, and.
Just the administrative state that kicks in in those situations is so maddening. Uh, But at least it's helpful if you have a friend who you know can bring you the best surgeon around. That's right. Cultivate a friendship like that, everybody. It's my parenting advice. It's a parenting tip from the gentleman at Moscow. Find you a friend like OSU. Make sure that should something happen, he will set you up. Yes, that's the way. That's the way to do it. Otherwise you're just kind of floating.
Yeah. Well, next Tuesday, we'll float on into episode seven. It is called an assembly, and we'll see you back here tomorrow for a discussion of lost.
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